A few week ago, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats were pushing the idea of a second economic stimulus.  Her idea would entail spending $60 million dollars on public works projects, extending unemployment benefits, food stamps, and helping state and local governments.  I know many unions will support a stimulus package because if I remember correctly, it is very similar to an idea that was floated by the Teamsters not long ago.  Who will get most of those jobs on public works projects?  Union members who vote for Democrats.  As for the money for state and local governments, I don't feel we should be bailing them out.  If they have too many expenditures, they need to make cuts.

     I didn't feel a second stimulus had much of a chance, especially when I heard some economists state that in order to be effective, it would have to be close to $300 billion.  There's no way we would spend that kind of money on top of the first stimulus, and $700 billion bailout, would we?  Well, partially thanks to Ben Bernanke, we probably will.  Democrats are excited by the prospect of yet another stimulus, and President Bush has signaled that he is open to the idea.  I'm not completely against the idea of another stimulus, I'm just against rushing into it.

     Economically, things are terrible.  I don't need to go over the events of the last month yet again.  Despite this, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  In recent weeks, the bailout was passed, the Fed cut interest rates and will probably cut them again next week, and other countries are helping the financial markets in their own countries.  Credit should be more plentiful, and fuel prices have been dropping steadily.  A few months ago, oil was trading for $147 per barrel on NYMEX, while it is now in the low $70's.  Think about how many companies raised prices to account for increased fuel costs, who will now see their profits enhanced because of the increased revenue.  It might not make their income statements look great, but they will certainly look better than they would if fuel costs were still high.

     So there we have it.  A bad economic situation that has been addressed with multiple solutions that will need some time to work.  Do we really need to increase the budget deficit and the National Debt?  It seems as if the National Debt is being ignored by both John McCain and Barack Obama.  No one seems to have a plan to address the problem by beginning to end our deficits and pay down the debt.  While politicians of both parties will be arguing how much money they should borrow to pass out like Christmas presents, we can watch the Debt Clock steadily rise.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20081021/pl_bloomberg/aebz5nqclh6e_1